"Hmmph. A Tuun turning to landed gentry? Even with your dragon and your fancy spear, that would not go down very well with the other great houses of Myszno. But my people… if you show an interest in our ways and honor the borders of our lands, that might be a different story. Yes, I can teach you Churvi - Khel Khammun, as it's properly called. I can teach you Vlachian as well, and it is wise that you ask to learn from me. The Vlachian spoken in the East is a different dialect from the capitol. They do not speak your White Sail Alliance pidgin there, either: you must be fluent. People in the big city will think you sound rural, but the inhabitants of Myszno will take to you faster if you sound like a local."
"Figured that might be the case. I don’t give a shit what people here think." I bought up my character sheet to check my available skill points. After my last level, I had four remaining. "How many points do I need?"
"Three for basic fluency in Churvi. You already know some Vlachian, so you only need two points to become fluent in that tongue."
I winced. "Damn. Only have four."
Masha thought for a few moments. "Then I can teach you enough Churvi to survive, and you can learn the rest while you are there. Once you have a start in a language, you can invest a point here, a point there... by practicing it, you will also improve without the need to invest points – though that takes more work. Of the two, I dare say that Vlachian is more important."
"Yeah, it is." I nodded. "Official language and everything."
Masha gave a curt nod, and a prompt jumped in the corner of my eye. I pulled it over, and a holographic trade screen appeared between us. Before I could make my selections, I got a tutorial prompt.
[Do you wish to learn more about Language Skills and Abilities?]
"Yes," I thought back.
The prompt unraveled into a tutorial pane, which my HUD narrator read to me:
Languages in Archemi
Archemi is a diverse place, with several major sapient species and hundreds of organically generated regional languages and cultures within the five basic playable races: Artanese Humans, Dauntan Humans, Lysian elves, Meewfolk and Mercurions. To learn a new language or dialect in Archemi, you must spend skill points to gain initial fluency, and from that point, you must study and practice speaking, reading and writing your new language to gain mastery.
The skill point cost and practice time is automatically calculated on the difficulty of the language relative to your intelligence score and the languages you already know. You can often spend fewer skill points if you are willing to put in more time practicing. If you urgently need a language to complete a quest or travel to a different country, you can spend more skill points to gain fluency more quickly. If you love to study and learn without spending any points, you can do that too!
Language acquisition using skill points is faster, anywhere between one to ten minutes. You may experience a brief sensation of dizziness and a warm feeling in your temples as Archemi's GNOSIS system uploads the language and primes your brain to be able to speak. As this is the Beta testing phase of Archemi Online, you should report any adverse symptoms to your supervisor. Revisit our Health and Wellness TOC for more information on GNOSIS.
I frowned. That was weird. None of the other skills I'd learned, or my fantasy combat abilities had needed a disclaimer. "Can you hold on for a moment?"
Masha shrugged, and waited while I PM'd Rin. "Hey, sorry to interrupt you, Admin Girl, but why is there a TOS health advisory for learning new languages via skill points?"
"Oh, it's nothing to worry about," Rin replied absently. "There were some problems with language processing during alpha testing. I guess the company lawyers made us include it."
"What… kind of problems?"
"Scrambled speech, mostly. People would mix up the fictional languages with their native tongues when they were offline. That was during the civilian game testing phase, mind you. As it turns out, uploading linguistic fluency to the brain is REALLY complex, but the Creative Design Board were adamant that we needed multiple languages for immersion and marketing down the track. You know... it gives players the feeling of being in a kind of club or tribe if they have a language only Archemi players can speak. I heard the military had a huge problem with memory loss in the early days."
"You mean like Suri?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Listen, I-I've got to go... I'm in the middle of crafting medicine packs for me and any other Mercurions in Myszno. Don't worry about the language stuff. You're safe: it was worked on a lot before the beta testing began."
"Right. Thanks." Not exactly reassuring, but I didn't have much choice: not if I really wanted to sort out the Myszno situation. Sighing, I waved the PM window aside, and selected my languages. "Vlachian first. Teach me the Myszno dialect."
Masha nodded, and then looked away with an expression of intense concentration on her face. A few seconds later, I got a prompt.
[Would you like to learn your new language: Vlachian (Eastern)?]
"Yup."
[Starting upload. Please close your eyes and minimize sensory interference during the transfer.]
It occurred to me then that the Ryuko Corporation might not have tested language acquisition on people who’d been perma-uploaded to the game, but there was no time to ask before the upload began.
Chapter 6
A powerful wave of dizziness swept over me, and then a sense of warm fullness pushed behind my eyes and against my temples from the inside. It wasn't painful, but it was definitely not comfortable... though it was kind of awesome, too, because I literally felt my mind begin to recall words I'd heard and make connections between them and the things they referred to. The knowledge poured in like hot sand, with every grain a word or a letter or a fraction of meaning. I wasn't sure if I was going to claw my face off or start gibbering in tongues by the time it finished, but sure enough... I could suddenly understand the murmured conversations in the hospital ward beyond the door.
"Damn." I shook my head and cracked my neck. "That's kind of nifty."
"Heh." Masha grunted her amusement. "If only we were all Starborn like you, eh? Ready for Churvi?"
"Hit me."
We repeated the process for the second language: money and skill points went in, and language came out. It seemed easier to learn than Vlachian, with less discomfort. Once the trade pane was closed, Masha gave me a shrewd look.
"Come," she said in her native tongue. "We should make the rounds of the hospital. You should be able to learn the skills of a healer while we wait for your lady to rouse. The guard will come out of her room when she wakes.”
I heard her speaking the foreign tongue - a language that sounded a lot like Mongolian to me - but the words made sense. It wasn't an unfamiliar sensation. I'd grown up bilingual, speaking English in public and Korean at home, but learning a new language so quickly was definitely a new experience.
"Sure." I nodded. "Mind if I ask you about Myszno while we work?"
"Not at all. Few people here are interested in my homeland... it is refreshing to have someone ask." Masha gave me a sharp nod, gathering her tool bag. "Where to begin?"
“What are the Thunderstones?” I asked. “We can start there.”
“Ahh…” she nodded, sweeping ahead into the ward. Seven patients waited for us. Rutha had been taken to a private room, guarded by a tattooed Knight of the Red Star outside. “The krr’akhi. No one knows what the Thunderstones are. They probably do not exist, except in stories and songs.”
“Do you know any of them?” I tried to mask the desperation I was already starting to feel.
“Yes, of course.” She huffed a little. “The most famous story is one you’ll hear in taverns everywhere while you’re in Myszno. It is the tale of Burna and Lahati.”
That immediately piqued my curiosity. “Burna?”
“The Nightfather.” Masha sketched a small gesture on her brow. “Here, he is known as-”
“Chernobog, or Matir,” I finished. “Yeah, I know. His name is the sam
e in Tuun’haar. We call him Burna as well.”
“Interesting. But to return to the story.” Masha sucked on her tooth for a moment, getting her words together. “Once long ago, the Solonkratsu were a learned and skillful people who built great palaces and cities across the world with the aid of their handmaidens, the Tulaq. There were many queens, but the greatest of them lived in Vlachia, and she ruled all the dragons from the crushing waves of the Black Sea in the east to the Bay of Swords where Taltos now stands. Her name was Lahati the White Frost, and she was quick and wise and beautiful, but so fierce that no other queen dragon could best her in combat. She was born white as snow, with horns and claws like polished diamonds, and eyes of black fire that could pierce a man’s soul. She grew great and sleek and lovely, so swift that no dragon buck could so much as lay a claw on her no matter how hard and fast they flew.”
“One day, Burna was walking the face of the world as a man, and he saw a brilliant light streak across the sky. It was Lahati, followed at a distance by many struggling dragons: her suitors. She winnowed the air like a swallow, forever out of their reach, and the god found himself fascinated. He shapeshifted into a great bull dragon with stars for eyes and scales as black as pitch, and took to the air to join the mating flight. He flew as fast and as high as he could, dashing other dragons out of the air in his lust. When Lahati heard their screams, she turned to see him closing on her.”
“The great bull caught the queen in the air, and in the fury of their first coupling, the god turned Lahati’s scales to obsidian, save for the white marks of his teeth on the back of her neck. The marks looked like the petals of a chrysanthemum, and so she assumed a new name and became Lahati the Chrysanthemum Queen. She was the beloved mate of the Nightfather for all her days, and when she died, he wept for a day and an age. Not even the Prince of a Thousand Names could call his beloved back to life when the Lord of Time came to take her to the grave. Wherever Burna pounded the earth in his grief, great craters appeared. Wherever he drew his claws, valleys and canyons were made. He wandered east, and he reached the Black Sea, he went to his knees by the ocean and screamed Lahati’s true name, the Words only he knew. The peaceful water turned furious and black, and there where he knelt, the Thunderstones erupted from the earth. It is said this is why the Black Sea is so incredibly fierce, and why the Dark God no longer walks with us as man or dragon, for he cannot bear to live without his queen by his side.”
While she spoke, the Mark prickled on the back of my hand. I felt a strange longing, and almost reflexively checked my telepathic link with Karalti. She was outside, warm and comfortable. Sleeping, probably. “Huh.”
“That is all I know of the Thunderstones. If you want older stories, you will have to visit the shamans or the monks. That could be why you wish to go to the village of Myszno, hmm? There is a Tuun monastery there.”
A monastery? “How do you get to Myszno Village from Vastil Pass?”
“Well, you fly to Vyeshniki, then cross the Sarviz River and head south, into the highlands. Unfortunately, that is all I know… and the land has probably changed a lot since I was a girl.” The old woman shook her head. “Now, here: I’ll give you the recipe for Concentrated Green Moss Tincture, and you go and prepare it for me. Then you may ask another question.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Sure.”
Getting a simple recipe uploaded to my memory was nowhere near as intense as learning a language: a prompt, a pause, and then ‘ting’, I knew a new recipe:
Concentrated Green Moss Tincture (Herbal)
Heals 150 HP over 120 seconds
Requires: Green Moss x 3, Lye x 1, Aqua Regia x 1 (Hydrochloric Acid x 3, Nitric Acid x 1), Pure Alcohol x 1, Bottle.
Sell Price: 30 rubles (silver)
While Masha worked, I mixed the Aqua Regia, then mashed the moss and added it to the powerful acid, dissolving it. Once the thick green sludge turned yellow, I added the lye – carefully – and let it froth and bubble until the liquid settled and it turned a bright lime green. Then I sieved it into a pot, added the alcohol, and transferred the liquid to three bottles. For my efforts, I got 5 Skill EXP toward Herbalism.
“Okay. Do you need anything else?” She asked.
“If you’re able to, tell me about the city that fell to the Demon,” I said. “And about the different counties?”
“Hmm.” Masha scowled thoughtfully as she administered one of the potions to a semi-conscious man with a badly broken leg. “Well, Myszno has only three cities of any size. They are Karhad in the south, Litvy to the north-west, and Boros to the far north. Karhad is the Ducal seat, where the House of Bolza reigns. It was the capital of Myszno long before it became part of Vlachia, a place of learning and industry. There are factories and mills, and many artisans live there. Lumber, metals, and mana are shipped from Boros to Karhad to be refined before they are sent back to Litvy, where they begin their journey west to Taltos. Here – thread this needle for me. My eyes aren’t as good as they used to be.”
I took the needle and catgut she held out to me and got to work. “Vastil is the wealthiest county, though?”
“Aye. And Litvy is the biggest city in the province now - ever since the House of Soma began building airships. It is a city of commerce, and the noble families there live by the scales, not the sword. Litvy also has a good school, and a sacred smithing college run by the Forge Brothers. When I was a girl, House Soma wasn’t even nobility!”
That was an interesting piece of information. “How long ago was that?”
“Oh, about sixty, sixty-five years ago now. The House of Soma were mere merchants back then. Shipwrights and merchants. They manufactured airships for the Crown, which is how Orvel Soma gained his peerage. His grandson is now Count of Vastil, but I hear Lorenzo Soma is something of a boor.”
“Huh. Good to know.”
We spent about thirty minutes finishing up the rounds, and every time I helped Masha, the Skill EXP trickled in. When we were done, Masha beckoned to me and took me aside to her laboratory. There was an Alchemy table with a safe for storing mana, an herbalist table, and floor to ceiling dressers full of potion ingredients along the walls. It was clean and cozy, the herbal smell overlaid with a faint ozone scent – the odor of mana.
“You are leaving tomorrow morning, then?” She asked me, puffing as she climbed a step-stool and hauled a bag of tools from a shelf.
“Yeah.” I watched her from the doorway. “Not much time to learn from you, unfortunately.”
“It is unfortunate. I’ve never taught a Starborn before, but if they’re all as quick as you, I’ll be glad to see more of them in Taltos.” She began to rifle through the bag, pulling out leather wrapped surgery tools, bandages, linen cloth… and then an old, battered pair of spell gloves.
“I… uh… thanks.” I actually flushed. No one had ever described me as ‘quick’ before. “I’m not really that smart, though.”
“Shush. I didn’t ask your opinion, did I?” Masha motioned to me to come closer. “Now, you’re going to want to prepare for the journey, hmm? I have a few things to give you. You may also use this oratory to work.”
I drifted over as she pulled rolls of parchment out and laid them down beside the gloves. “Recipes?”
“Yes. Here: put them in your inventory. Practice those formulae, and you’ll be ready for Journeyman level in Herbalism. I need a new valve for these spell gloves before you can use them, though. Wait here.” She pushed the stack of papers over to me, then hopped down and bustled off to her alchemy table.
I uploaded the new recipes to my Inventory, and received a string of prompts:
[You have learned new recipes: Starberry Salve, Goldenseal Tincture, Droptick Oil, Nightshade Solution (A), Bonefuse (A), Bull’s Strength Potion (A)]
[Congratulations! You have reached Herbalism 11! You can now study Journeyman-level textbooks, brew more complex potions, and use better equipment!]
[Congratulations! You have unlocked Alchemy (Levels 4 – 10)]
/>
[Your ability to understand Alchemy has increased! You have unlocked detailed recipes and instructions, including listed benefits and side-effects.]
Hell yeah. I’d been stuck on Alchemy 4 - the limits of self-taught Alchemy - since before I’d left Ilia. While Masha fiddled with the gauntlets, I eagerly brought up one of the new recipes and had a look:
Bonefuse (Alchemical)
A phototoxic potion which instantly repairs broken bones.
Benefit: Administering Bonefuse will cure any set and splinted fracture. You must straighten any broken bones before use.
Side-Effects: Bonefuse will cause the patient to be painfully allergic to sunlight for 2-5 days. Exposure to direct sunlight will inflict the Burn status and drain 20 HP damage per minute of exposure. The side-effect cannot be offset with other medicines.
Toxicity: 5/10 (Risk of Stranging if used on NPCs: 50%)
Ingredients: Comfrey x 2, Bergamot oil x 1, Mana (Any) x 1, Monster Saliva (Any), Bishop’s Weed x 1, Distilled Water x 1, Sealed Flask.
Sell Price: 20 olbia (gold)
Damn, Bonefuse wasn’t fucking around. Curious, I went to examine one of the first Alchemical potions I’d ever made – my unused bottle of Barghest Serum. The murky glowing potion had been sitting in my inventory ever since I’d first brewed it, un-used. That was because its description HAD been a one-line warning: ‘a deadly poison that allows you to see in the dark for 60 seconds.’ Bringing up the item description now gave me an expanded breakdown, just like the Bonefuse recipe:
Barghest Serum
A deadly poison that allows you to see in the dark for 60 seconds.
Benefit: Consuming Barghest Serum gives you perfect darkvision for one minute. You can see in lightless environments, and even underground. Barghest Serum can also be used to poison weapons. Wounds inflicted by weapons poisoned with Barghest Serum will glow with bright light for up to six hours.
Side-Effects: Barghest blood contains a potent toxin that drains HP. NPCs take 150 HP damage over 2 minutes after contact or consumption. Player characters take 100 HP damage over 2 minutes. Mercurions, Monsters, Dragons and Dragonforged characters take no damage from this poison.
Archemi Online Chronicles Boxset Page 83